The present invention relates to lighting devices and methods. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and system for the automatic color adjustment of a video display screen, panel, module or other display component comprising light emitting diodes.
Today, it is common for video displays to use light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”) because of the brightness and low power requirements of the LEDs. LED video screens are used as digital billboards to display e.g., advertisements, textual and/or graphical informational messages, and live or prerecorded videos throughout cities and towns and at sporting events, concerts, and other appropriate venues (e.g., inside or outside of buildings). LED video screens, also referred to as LED display walls, are made up of individual panels and/or intelligent modules (IM) having a predetermined number and arrangement of controllable LEDs. The panels and/or modules are mounted next to each other and their outputs are controlled such that they appear to be one large display screen.
Unfortunately, LEDs are known for decaying over time. This means that the LEDs will not be as bright and/or as colorful as they were prior to their first use. Thus, after monthly and yearly operation of an LED video screen, the LEDs on the panels, modules, etc. that make-up the screen will eventually decay, affecting the brightness and/or color of the screen. Depending upon how the LED video screen was being used and what it had been displaying, the decay level of the LEDs on the individual panels and modules may be different from panel to panel and module to module. That is, because some LEDs will be used more frequently than others depending upon e.g., their location and what the screen was being used to display, uniformity of the screen (particularly with respect to it brightness and color output) will get worse over time.
Currently, there are techniques for adjusting the LED screen's color and brightness, but they are manually intensive. As used herein, the term “color adjustment” will refer to color and or brightness adjustment. Oftentimes a web camera, or other digital camera, is used with other equipment external to the LED screen to capture the screen's output. The external equipment includes, but is not limited to, light sensors and a computer that are separate from the screen's control panel. Moreover, a human operator is required to set up and control the equipment, determine test results, and execute the adjustment process. The external equipment and need for a human operator renders the typical automatic color adjustment technique costly, time consuming and inefficient.
Accordingly, there exists a need to provide an automatic color adjustment scheme for a video screen, display panel, module or other component comprising light emitting diodes.